"Time Trail,
West Virginia"
January 1998 Programs

January 1, 1888: The
Hatfield-McCoy feud

The conflict between the Hatfields of West Virginia and the
McCoys of Kentucky is the most famous of a series of feuds in
Appalachia in the late nineteenth century. Both families lived in
the Tug Fork River Valley.

A cause of the feud has never been determined. Some say it
started after Floyd Hatfield stole a razorback hog belonging to
Randolph McCoy. Others point to the romance between Johnse
Hatfield, "Devil Anse's" son, and Roseanna McCoy, Randolph's
daughter. Court records indicate troubles between the two families
started around the time of the Civil War.

Violence flared between the two families for years until
tensions exploded on New Year's Night 1888. A party of Hatfield
men, led by "Devil Anse's" uncle, Jim Vance, raided Randolph
McCoy's home. The Hatfield raiders feared the outcome of impending
trials connected to feud violence and planned to kill those who
might testify against them. They set fire to the McCoy home; killed
two of Randolph's children, Alifair and Calvin; and severely
injured his wife Sarah. Randolph escaped unharmed. Several
Hatfields received prison sentences and one defendant, Ellison
Mounts, was sentenced to hang.

Although more deadly feuds occurred throughout the country in
the late 1800s, the national media made the Hatfields and McCoys
the most famous. One year after the New Year's incident, New York
reporter T. C. Crawford used the Hatfield-McCoy feud to brand
Appalachians as barbaric.

The feud appears to have fizzled out after the trials. "Devil
Anse" moved from the Tug Valley to Island Creek near Logan and
became a member of the Baptist church. He died in 1921. Randolph
McCoy died seven years earlier.

For more information:

Rice, Otis K. The Hatfields and McCoys. Lexington:
University Press of Kentucky, 1978.

The Hatfield-McCoy feud was not the only one of its kind during
this period, however, the media used it to label an entire
geographical region--Appalachia.

How would this "feud" be portrayed by today's media?

Why did it gain national attention in the late 1800s?

Define "barbaric." Was Crawford's label accurate? Why or why
not?

January 2, 1918: Founding of
Nitro

It's often assumed the town of Nitro is named after
nitroglycerin, but that's the wrong assumption. Historian Bill
Wintz says Nitro's name can be traced back to its origins as a
World War I boomtown and nitrocellulose, which is used to
manufacture gunpowder.

The government chose the area that is now Nitro for one of three
new explosives plants after the United States entered the war. The
plants were built to relieve a severe shortage of gunpowder.

Even though construction at Nitro had begun the week before,
official groundbreaking ceremonies for the plant were held January
2, 1918. Bill Wintz says it took just 11 months for workers to
build the plant.

Wintz: During the eleven months that it took to build
Nitro, there were 110,000 people, different people, on the payroll.
But the average only stayed about 6 weeks. There was terrific
turnover. The most that was ever there at one time was about
30,000.

And Wintz says Clark Gable, who was to become a major Hollywood
movie star, was one of them. Wintz came across the information in a
newspaper article.

Wintz: It was in this article he said that while he was
in Nitro, he had a girlfriend and the girlfriend was worker there
too and she lived in Welch, West Virginia. And he said he had to .
. . she quit before he did. And he said one weekend he wanted to go
see her and he left on the train. And he said he was on the train
all weekend except two hours that he spent with his girlfriend in
Welch. He did actually work at Nitro. He was in the . . . he was a
telephone repairman.

The explosives plant was not completed in time to help the war
effort. The facilities were sold at auction and Nitro eventually
became the center of one of the most productive chemical industries
in the world.

For more information:

Wintz, William. Nitro, The World War I Boom Town. South
Charleston, WV: Jalamap Publications, 1985.

For Discussion:

There are many famous people with ties to West Virginia, including
Clark Gable.

Who was Clark Gable?

How old was he during the construction of Nitro?

What movies did he star in?

January 4, 1911: Death of U.S.
Senator Stephen Elkins

The death of Stephen Elkins on January 4, 1911, left a vacancy
in the U.S. Senate that proved difficult to fill. Elkins, a
Republican, lived at various times in Ohio, Missouri, and New
Mexico, where he served as a territorial delegate to Congress.
After arriving in West Virginia in 1878, Elkins became heavily
involved in the coal, railroad, and timber industries with his
father-in-law Henry Davis.

Elkins' death meant the legislature had a chance to elect two
replacements since Elkins' Republican colleague in the Senate,
Nathan Scott, declined to run for
reelection. In those days, senators were elected by the state
legislatures.

The West Virginia House of Delegates was controlled by
Democrats, while an equal number of Democrats and Republicans
served in the state senate. Fearing Democrats would win both U.S.
Senate seats, all 15 Republican senators locked themselves in
Governor William Glasscock's office,
preventing the state senate from convening.

The Republican senators secretly traveled to Cincinnati, out of
the reach of West Virginia authorities. When 20 armed Kentucky
woodsmen appeared at their hotel, the Republican senators feared
West Virginia Democrats had conspired to kidnap them and agreed to
negotiate. The two sides finally reached a compromise. Future
Governor Henry Hatfield, a Republican,
was elected state senate president, while Democrats picked the two
U.S. senators. The editor and publisher of the Charleston
Gazette, W. E. Chilton, succeeded Senator Scott and coal baron
Clarence Watson of Fairmont replaced Senator Elkins, ending one of
West Virginia's most bizarre political tales.

For more information:

Williams, John Alexander. "New York's First Senator from West
Virginia: How Stephen B. Elkins Found a New Political Home."
West Virginia History 31(January 1970): 73- 87.

For Discussion:

Today, the "organizing" of the West Virginia Legislature is a
routine function at the beginning of the legislative session. But
the process is controversial when close election results are
disputed by the political parties.

What is the process for "organizing" the legislature at the
beginning of the session? How could one political party prevent the
legislature from "organizing?" Could this happen today?

How are legislative leaders chosen? How are committee members
selected?

How has the balance between West Virginia's political parties
changed since 1911?

Does the government work better when there is a balance between
the parties or when one party has an obvious advantage? Why?

January 5, 1911: Star City elects
a Socialist government

Today, politics are controlled almost entirely by the two major
political parties. That wasn't always the case--third parties once
played an active role in West Virginia politics. In the early 20th
century, the Socialists organized a successful third party.

Coal, oil, gas, and timber companies were thriving economically.
While the owners of these businesses lived in relative luxury,
workers and their families often struggled to survive. The
Socialist party provided a glimmer of hope, promoting a system
where the workers owned the workplace, such as a mine, factory, or
farm. In Star City, a small town near Morgantown, the glass
industry was suffering through a depression and many employees
worked only a few days a week. On January 5, 1911, Star City voters
elected a Socialist city council.

Stephen Cresswell, the chair of the History Department at West
Virginia Wesleyan, says the Socialists reached their political peak
in the state in 1912 and dominated several municipal
governments.

Cresswell: Adamston in Harrison County and Star City in
Monongalia County and Hendricks over in the mountains and Cameron
up near Wheeling, all taken over by the Socialist party. Not by
Revolution but by the voters there deciding that they wanted a
Socialist mayor or Socialist city council.

The Socialists closely aligned themselves with the state's
growing labor movement, which was generally opposed by both
Democratic and Republican officials. During the violent Paint
Creek-Cabin Creek coal strike in Kanawha County, the Socialists
supported the miners with words and weapons. Governor Henry Hatfield eventually shut down two
Socialist newspapers, which had been outspoken advocates for the
strikers.

Cresswell says that despite the workers' support, the Socialist
party never gained enough momentum to win election statewide.

Cresswell: When about six out of a hundred West
Virginia voters voted for Eugene Debs, the Socialist for President
and for the Governor candidate here in West Virginia from the
Socialist party. And while six percent may be pretty good by third
party standards, you know, it's clear that the Socialist party was
not on the verge of taking over the state.

Support for the Socialist party declined in West Virginia and
across the nation after the United States entered World War One in
1917. Russia's violent Bolshevik Revolution that same year also
convinced many that socialism was un-American.

Name some current third parties and their leaders? Why do they
appeal to voters?

Does the Socialist party still exist?

January 6, 1860: Establishment of
Weston State Hospital

Prior to the Civil War, there were two institutions in Virginia
to treat mental illness. Overcrowded facilities at Williamsburg and
Staunton often meant that those in need of treatment were confined
in jails. Western Virginia politicians demanded a new facility be
built west of the Allegheny Mountains. Virginia had never funded a
public institution in present-day West Virginia, a point of
contention among those who leaned toward forming a new state. To
appease western leaders, the Virginia General Assembly authorized
the establishment of the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in 1858,
although funds were not appropriated until January 6, 1860. The
Civil War delayed construction and the facility finally opened in
October 1864 as the West Virginia Hospital for the Insane, renamed
Weston State Hospital.

Over the next 100 years, West Virginia expanded its mental
health institutions. Facilities were built in Huntington and
Spencer and a segregated institution for black patients opened at
Lakin. In 1932, the West Virginia Training School, later called the
Colin Anderson Center, was established near St. Marys to serve
people with mental retardation.

By the 1960s, these institutions had become overcrowded and
underfunded. In response, West Virginia developed programs to
provide mental health services locally. People formerly committed
to state hospitals could now receive help in their own communities.
As local services expanded, state institutions downsized or closed.
Weston State Hospital closed in 1994 and was replaced by a much
smaller facility named for State Senator William R. Sharpe, Jr.

For Discussion:

For many years, western Virginians had tried to obtain public
funding for roads, public institutions, etc. The Trans-Allegheny
Lunatic Asylum was the first institution in western Virginia funded
by the state of Virginia.

To what extent was the state government, located in eastern
Virginia, willing to meet the needs of those who lived west of the
Allegheny Mountains?

Are there structures (e.g., libraries, bridges, streets,
buildings, athletic fields) in your community named after civic
leaders?

What is the purpose of a mental hospital?

January 7, 1862: Battle of Blue's
Gap

When Union General Benjamin Kelley learned of Confederate
General Stonewall Jackson's plans to destroy the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal opposite Hancock, Maryland, he met the rebels at Blue's
Gap. Blue's Gap is in Hampshire County about 13 miles southeast of
Romney. The site of the battle is also known as Hanging Rock. It
was an important region during the Civil War because the
Northwestern Turnpike, which is now U.S. Route 50, passed through
Blues Gap.

The C&O Canal was an avenue for federal supplies. In one
attack, Jackson intended to disrupt the canal as well as the
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, a significant supply line which ran
through Romney. Once these objectives were met, Jackson planned to
move across the Allegheny Mountains and drive Union troops from
northwestern Virginia.

Kelley thought an attack at Blue's Gap would force a Confederate
withdrawal to protect Jackson's headquarters at Winchester,
Virginia. It would also relieve pressure on Union troops at Romney.
Troops under Colonel Samuel Dunning, the Union commander at Romney,
arrived at Blue's Gap on the morning of January 7, 1862.

Various reports number the Confederate killed or captured
between 40 and 70, but Dunning reported only 7 prisoners and 7
dead. Union troops suffered no casualties and were back in Romney
by 4 o'clock that afternnon. Just three days later, Kelley ordered
Union troops to evacuate Romney, which was subsequently occupied by
Jackson.

Winter weather forced Jackson to scrap plans to bring
northwestern Virginia under Confederate control. Jackson nearly
resigned his commission after the Confederate War Department
ordered him to abandon Romney. General William Loring had convinced
Confederate officials the occupation of Romney had been a strategic
mistake. However, Jackson was validated. After the Confederates
evacuated Romney, Union troops reopened the entire line of the
B&O Railroad.

For more information:

Haselberger, Fritz. "The Battle of Blue's Gap." West Virginia
History 28:3(April 1967): 241.

January 8, 1866: Life of Governor
William Conley

The end of Governor William Conley's term in 1933 marked the end
of thirty-six years of Republican control of West Virginia's
governor's office. The election of Democrat John J. Cornwell in 1916 briefly interrupted
this trend. It was the Great Depression that finally caused a shift
toward Democratic control of state government. Since the end of
Conley's term, only two Republicans, Cecil Underwood and Arch Moore, have held the state's highest
office.

Conley was born on a farm near Kingwood, Preston County, on
January 8, 1866. He worked in coal mines, a sawmill, and on the
railroad before becoming a school teacher. After earning a law
degree from West Virginia University in 1893, he served as mayor of
Parsons and founded the Parsons Advocate newspaper. In 1908,
he was named West Virginia attorney general by Governor William Dawson. After losing the 1912 election
for Congress by fourteen votes, Conley opened a law practice in
Charleston. He defeated Fayetteville's J. Alfred Taylor by nearly
50,000 votes in the 1928 election for governor.

The crowning achievement of Conley's term was the dedication of
the new $10-million state capitol building on June 20, 1932. The
dedication came at the height of the Great Depression. He was
unable to turn the tide of West Virginia's worsening economic
problems. The election of H. Guy Kump as
governor in 1932 marked the beginning of Democratic dominance in
West Virginia. Upon leaving office, Conley divided his time between
Charleston and Florida. He died in Charleston on October 21, 1940,
at the age of seventy-four.

For more information:

West Virginia Legislature's History of the West Virginia State
Capitol.

The end of Governor Conley's term marked the end of a long span of
Republican control of state government and a shift toward
Democratic control.

What is the difference between the Democratic and Republican
parties?

Who is the current governor? president? What political parties
are they affiliated with?

How does a two-party political system allow for effective
checks and balances? What happens when one party controls
government for a long period of time?

January 9, 1942: Barnette
v. Board of Education

In the 1940s, several West Virginians risked persecution while
standing up for their constitutional rights of freedom of religion
and speech. Court cases involving Jehovah's Witnesses had an impact
nationwide.

In 1940, Jehovah's Witnesses, who had been going door-to-door in
Richwood, were rounded up by a deputy sheriff and American
Legionnaires. The group was tied together by rope, forced to drink
castor oil, and marched out of town. The Jehovah's Witnesses
challenged this action in court and, in the case of United
States v. Catlette, a U.S. circuit court determined the
deputy sheriff had committed civil rights violations. This was the
first time a public official had been prosecuted for using his
office to deny an individual's civil rights

A year later, following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the West
Virginia Legislature passed a bill allowing school systems to
require the Pledge of Allegiance. On January 9, 1942, the state
school board did just that. This went against the religious beliefs
of Jehovah's Witnesses, who would pledge their allegiance only to
God. But many people thought Jehovah's Witnesses were unpatriotic
because they did not salute the flag. This controversy came to a
head when Jehovah's Witnesses Marie and Gathie Barnette; David ,
Helen, and Louellen McClure; and Franklin and Mildred Stull were
expelled from their Kanawha Valley schools because they refused to
recite the pledge. The parents of these children went to court. The
case Barnette v. West Virginia Board of Education was
first heard in West Virginia district court, which decided in the
parents' favor. In an appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled students
could not be forced to participate in any activity which violated
their religious beliefs.

This landmark decision is still the precedent for freedom of
religion in public schools.

January 12, 1967: Governor Hulett
Smith proposes strip mining reform

In the early 1900s, West Virginia led the nation in the
underground mining of bituminous coal. By mid-century, coal miners
no longer had to tunnel under the earth. Technological advances
made it possible to extract coal by removing the earth's surface.
Strip mining required less labor than underground mining and
generated higher profits. To protect jobs, the United Mine Workers
stonewalled strip mining operations until 1948, when union
president John L. Lewis conceded the issue in exchange for the
establishment of miners' pension and retirement funds.

During the 1950s and 1960s, strip mining in West Virginia
increased dramatically as did the unemployment rate. Strip mining
also took an environmental toll in the form of erosion and water
contamination. The legislature passed laws in the 1950s to help
protect the environment from strip mining, but failed to
appropriate funding to enforce them.

By the late 1960s, environmental activists had convinced the
state government that something had to be done. On January 12,
1967, in his State of the State Address, Governor Hulett Smith proposed a reform of strip
mining laws, which would protect the environment but not cripple
the coal industry. The legislature passed the Surface Mine
Reclamation Act, the most stringent strip mining law in the nation.
However, it too failed due to inadequate funding.

The dangers of strip mining were brought to the nation's
attention in 1972, when a dam collapsed on Buffalo Creek in Logan
County, killing 125 people. Despite regulations forbidding the
practice, the Pittston Coal Company had been allowed to build the
dam with strip mine refuse. The disaster led to passage of a 1977
federal law which imposed more controls on strip mines. Today, the
debate continues. Environmental activists argue that inadequate
penalties do not deter strip miners from destroying the land while
coal operators insist higher fines and stricter regulations will
put them out of business.

January 13, 1941: Inauguration of
Governor Matthew Neely

When Matthew Mansfield Neely became West Virginia's 21st
governor, he took it as a mandate that the people were confident in
the leadership of the Democratic party. Neely was sworn in as
governor on January 13, 1941. He began his inauguration speech with
these words:

Neely: Governor Holt,
distinguished visitors, and fellow citizens, at the ballot box last
November, the people of West Virginia, for the third consecutive
time, deliberately and decisively ordained that the government of
this state should be conducted by the duly chosen representative of
the historic Democratic party. A free people may capriciously
change an administration but they seldom, if ever, again and again,
capriciously continue a political party in power.

Neely's term began during World War II. The United States hadn't
yet entered the war. But the remarks Neely made during his
inauguration speech show he was clearly concerned about it.

Neely: This frightful world war, like its wicked
predecessor, unhappily threatens not only the national security and
peace, but the perpetuation of democratic government.

When Neely took office at the age of 66, he was the oldest man
ever elected governor. That distinction now belongs to Cecil Underwood. However, Neely is still the
only man to hold all three of the highest elected offices in West
Virginia. Besides governor, Neely served in the U.S. Senate and the
House of Representatives.

Neely resigned his Senate seat to serve as West Virginia's
governor, causing a controversy over whether Neely himself or
outgoing governor Homer Holt should name Neely's successor. Neely
prevailed, appointing Fairmont State College President Dr. Joseph
Rosier to his old seat.

Neely again ran for the Senate one year after his term as
governor began. He suffered his greatest political defeat, losing
to Chapman Revercomb by 50,000 votes. He finally returned to the
Senate in 1948 and served until his death in 1958.

January 14, 1960: Retirement of
UMW president John L. Lewis

John L. Lewis retired as president of the United Mine Workers
union on January 14, 1960, ending a forty-year career. He had
succeeded president Frank Hayes in 1919, in the midst of violent
strikes to unionize West Virginia's southern coalfields. The defeat
of West Virginia's rank-and-file labor leaders at Blair Mountain in
1921 allowed Lewis to assume a more dictatorial power over the UMW
and take control from local unions. New Deal laws of the 1930s
strengthened labor by requiring employers to negotiate with unions.
As a result, Lewis' power grew immeasurably as the UMW organized
millions of coal miners in addition to employees in the steel,
auto, rubber, and glass industries.

His testimony before a congressional subcomittee in 1948
demonstrated the combativeness for which he was famous. The five-
and-a-half-hour debate stemmed from a mine disaster in Centralia,
Illinois, and Lewis' subsequent strike order.

Lewis: If we must grind up human flesh and bones in the
industrial machine that we call modern America, then, before God, I
assert that those who consume the coal and you and I who benefit
from that service, because we live in comfort, we owe protection to
those men first and we owe security for their families if they die.
I say it, I voice it, I proclaim it and I care not who in heaven or
hell opposes it. That's what I believe about that.

Lewis' successor, Thomas Kennedy, lived only three years after
becoming president. Kennedy was replaced by Tony Boyle, whose
corrupt leadership during the 1960s sparked a new rank-and-file
movement, which culminated with the election of West Virginia
native Arnold Miller in 1972.

For Discussion:

John L. Lewis was president of the UMW longer than any other
individual. Because Lewis had almost total control of the union, it
was difficult to replace him.

How did coal mining change during the years Lewis was
president?

Unlike Lewis, Kennedy, and Boyle, Arnold Miller was a lifelong
coal miner. How would Miller's experience in the mines give him a
different perspective from the others?

January 15, 1929: Martin Luther
King's Birthday

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on
January 15, 1929. By the time of his visit to West Virginia in
1960, he was already recognized by many as the national leader of
the civil rights movement. King had won fame for leading a battle
to integrate the bus system in Montgomery, Alabama. King preached a
sermon at Charleston's First Baptist Church on the morning of
January 24. He told a large audience that Americans were living
during a momentous time--a time--in his words--"When an old order
is dying and a new one is being born."

King was interviewed by a television reporter in Charleston and
said the civil rights issue would be important in the 1960
elections.

King: I believe both the major political parties
recognize the significance of this issue in order to gain the Negro
vote and also the other liberal forces in the white community. And
I'm sure that both parties will face this issue, both in the
conventions and in the election.

Reporter: Are you hopeful for additional civil rights
legislation this year from Congress?

King: Yes, I'm sure that some type of civil rights bill will be
passed. And I'm sure that there will be a strong debate in Congress
on this issue. How strong the legislation will be I don't know. We
hope that it will be a bill with teeth and with substance. But at
any rate, there will be additional legislation in the area of civil
rights, I'm convinced.

King was instrumental in securing passage of the landmark 1964
civil rights bill and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace. He was
assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, in April 1968.

January 16, 1959: Elgin Baylor
boycotts basketball game in Charleston

Most of the 2,300 West Virginians who braved icy Charleston
streets and near zero weather on January 16, 1959, to see the
Minneapolis Lakers play a professional basketball game against the
Cincinnati Royals thought Lakers rookie star Elgin Baylor was ill
or injured. Baylor, dressed in street clothes, sat on the bench
during the game at the city's brand new civic center. After the
game, it was revealed that Baylor had refused to play in
protest.

The Charleston hotel where the Lakers had reservations wouldn't
allow Baylor and two other black players, Boo Ellis and Ed Fleming,
to stay with the rest of the team. The whole team moved to a hotel
that accepted African Americans, but Baylor refused to play that
evening's game to protest the incident. Ellis and Fleming, who did
play, attempted to change Baylor's mind. Charleston native Rod
Hundley, who played for the Lakers at the time, also pleaded with
Baylor to no avail.

The Lakers lost the game to Cincinnati 95 to 91. Baylor later
said he wouldn't have played even if it cost him his entire year's
salary. The protest made national news although local reaction was
mixed. Charleston sportswriter A. L. "Shorty" Hardman denounced the
city's segregation ordinances, but called Baylor's actions
"inexcusable."

Charleston's American Business Club, which sponsored the game
and lost money because of poor attendance, filed a protest with the
National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Lakers. Both the NBA
and the Lakers refused to discipline Baylor.

For Discussion:

Public attention often focuses on athletic events. Over the last
fifty years, athletes and government officials have used sporting
events to make political statements.

The Olympic games have been used for political purposes on
several occasions. Can you name these instances? What was being
protested?

Should politicians use recreational events as a means of
influence?

January 19, 1894: Hanging of John
Hardy

Two of West Virginia's most popular folk songs are often
confused with one another even though they tell very different
stories. The song "John Henry" chronicles the epic struggle between
man and machine. John Henry won his contest over a steam-powered
drill but the effort cost him his life.

Like Henry, John Hardy was a black railroad worker, but he met
his death in a less than heroic fashion. Hardy joined thousands of
laborers in southern West Virginia's booming coalfields in the
1890s. McDowell County was not prepared to handle the population
explosion and stories of murder, drinking, gambling, and
prostitution became legendary.

One of these stories became the basis for the folk song "John
Hardy." In the song, Hardy guns down a man who beat him at poker.
Governor William MacCorkle later
called it a classic tale of "women, cards and liquor." Hardy was
convicted of murder and sentenced to death. A large crowd gathered
at the McDowell County seat of Welch on January 19, 1894, to
witness the spectacle. Like many condemned prisoners, Hardy is said
to have experienced a religious conversion. Before the noose was
placed around his neck, Hardy delivered a moving speech from the
gallows in which he showed remorse for his crime.

Although passed down as a folk song, "John Hardy" has been
played by bluegrass, blues, country, jazz, and rock musicians. The
song has been recorded by a wide array of performers, including
Leadbelly, Pete Seeger, Earl Scruggs, Duke Ellington, Manfred Mann,
and Uncle Tupelo.

January 20, 1978: Snowstorm
cripples West Virginia

West Virginians have seen their fair share of snow over the
years but not in the proportions that piled up on January 20, 1978.
National Weather Service forecasters thought the snow that began
early on a Thursday morning would change to freezing rain and sleet
by late in the afternoon.

It didn't--the temperature never rose high enough for that. By
the time the snow stopped, West Virginia was blanketed by its
heaviest snowfall on record. It was a struggle just to get around.
Up to two feet of snow had fallen in the Kanawha Valley and Preston
County. Parkersburg and Martinsburg ended up with 16 inches,
Huntington had 20, and Wheeling reported 18.

Governor Jay Rockefeller activated
the National Guard to help with snow clearing efforts.

Rockefeller: It's a matter of equipment, really, more
than personnel. We need as much equipment as we can get to clean
off the roads--the primary roads and then the secondary roads. And
then we've got to have availability for emergencies-- when people
have to get to hospitals or need food or fuel or something of that
sort. So that . . . vehicles is what we need and heavy
equipment.

Adjutant General Robert Childers was in charge of West
Virginia's Emergency Services office.

Childers: The mobility of the state has been slowed to
a snail's pace. Your main arteries are snow-covered, being worked
on to be unplugged. Most of the secondary roads are clogged. Then,
you get into the so-called orphan roads. You've really got some
very serious problems in those areas.

Roads were so hazardous that authorities advised motorists to
use them only for emergencies. Schools and businesses were closed.
In Hinton, the roof of a factory caved in under the weight of 15
inches of snow. It took the spring thaw to finally melt the last of
the record snow.

January 21, 1927: Death of
Confederate general John McCausland

John McCausland was a young Confederate brigadier general when
he ordered his troops to burn Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
McCausland never regretted the action, which made him infamous
throughout the North.

McCausland was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1836. Thirteen
years later, he made his home in Mason County in what is now West
Virginia. After Virginia seceded from the Union, McCausland was
commissioned a colonel in the Confederate Army. By 1864, he rose to
the rank of brigadier general. That same year, he was lauded as a
hero in the South and branded a villain in the North.

McCausland commanded about 1,000 troops when he held off a Union
force of 15,000 at Lynchburg, Virginia. The people of Lynchburg
presented McCausland with a gold sword, a horse, and a pair of
solid silver spurs for his efforts on their behalf.

In retaliation for the Union Army's destruction of Lexington,
Virginia, General Jubal Early ordered McCausland to either collect
a ransom from the people of Cumberland, Maryland, and Chambersburg,
or destroy the towns.

Upon reaching Chambersburg, McCausland demanded $100,000 in gold
or $500,000 in paper money. The townspeople refused so most of
Chambersburg was burned to the ground. McCausland never made it to
Cumberland to repeat the ransom threat. He was forced to retreat
into West Virginia in the face of a superior Union force.

The North wouldn't let McCausland forget the burning of
Chambersburg. Warrants were issued, charging him with arson and
calling him a murderer and a thief. After the war, McCausland was
forced to flee to Europe and Mexico. It was only after President
Ulysses
Grant intervened that McCausland was able to return. He lived
the rest of his life in Mason County and always maintained a clear
conscience regarding the burning of Chambersburg.

According to an old saying, "History is written by the victors."
McCausland was a villain for burning the town of Chambersburg.
However, Union general William Sherman destroyed large sections of
Georgia and South Carolina and Philip Sheridan burned much of the
Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. Sherman and Sheridan were considered
heroes and served in high-ranking government positions after the
war.

Was McCausland treated fairly?

Most Confederates were pardoned after the war despite fighting
against the U.S. Army. Should they have been pardoned? Should Union
commanders (such as Sherman and Sheridan) who killed citizens and
destroyed property in the South have been punished?

January 22, 1953: Governor
William Marland & the coal severance tax

An ongoing debate has resurfaced in recent years over whether
West Virginia taxes its natural resources fairly. Governor William
Marland faced the issue head on in the first days of his
administration. Marland stunned the legislature on January 22,
1953, when he asked for passage of a severance tax on coal, oil,
gas, and other natural resources. The proposal was a surprise to
lawmakers because Marland had made no mention of such a tax in his
inaugural address.

Marland estimated the new tax would generate about $18 million
annually and solve the state's road and school problems. Marland
found support for the proposal from West Virginia's major labor
groups. The state's congressional delegation also supported the tax
but opposition arose from the coal industry, the Republican
minority of both legislative houses, and the state Chamber of
Commerce.

As the 1953 legislative session wore on, it became obvious
Marland's tax bill was doomed, despite his efforts to salvage it.
Late in the session, the House of Delegates killed the issue by
postponing further consideration of the tax bill indefinitely.
Under House rules, the bill couldn't be acted upon again during
that legislative session.

The severance tax never again became an issue during Governor
Marland's term. Coal interests helped defeat Marland in his race
for the U.S. Senate in 1958, ending his political career.

Taxes are necessary to raise money to provide services such as
schools, government, roads, public safety, infrastructure, etc.
However, issuing new taxes is often unpopular.

What is a severance tax?

Why did the coal industry oppose this tax despite the benefits
for roads and schools?

Who do you think has more influence over government officials
and legislators: businesses or the general public?

Should governors be required to outline all their legislative
goals in an inaugural addresses and state of the state addresses?
If yes, does this limit a governor's ability to deal with unforseen
circumstances?

January 23, 1888: Birth of labor
leader Fred Mooney

Fred Mooney was born in Kanawha County on January 23, 1888, and
became a well-known figure during West Virginia's mine wars.
Mooney, Frank Keeney, and Bill Blizzard emerged as leaders of the
United Mine Workers District 17 during the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek
strike, one of the most violent labor disputes in this nation's
history. Because of strike-releated violence, Governor William Glasscock declared martial law,
dispatched 1,200 state militia to disarm both the miners and mine
guards and, on three different occasions, sent in troops.
Glasscock's successor, Governor Henry
Hatfield, imposed a settlement ending the strike.

In 1916, rank-and-file union members threw out corrupt officials
and elected Keeney president of District 17 and Mooney secretary-
treasurer. Mooney helped organize the 1921 armed miners' march on
Logan County, which culminated in a pitched battle against mine
guards, sherrif's deputies, state police, and federal troops at
Blair Mountain. Mooney, Keeney, and Blizzard were indicted on
charges of murder and treason, although none of the three were ever
convicted. Bill Blizzard remained a prominent UMW figure for years
after Blair Mountain. Both Mooney and Keeney were forced from their
leadership positions and later formed the West Virginia Mine
Workers Union, an unsuccessful rival to the UMW.

Following the failure of the rival union, Mooney went back to
work in the mines. His career in West Virginia's coalfields came to
an end in 1952. After an explosion at his home near Fairmont,
Mooney committed suicide. Newspapers reported that police suspected
Mooney of trying to murder his wife.

January 26, 1855: Birth of
Secretary of the Interior John Barton Payne

Few West Virginians have been appointed by a president to
cabinet posts. However, two West Virginia natives held cabinet
positions during the administration of President Woodrow
Wilson.

John Barton Payne, who was born in Pruntytown on January 26,
1855, served as mayor of Kingwood and as a circuit court judge in
Tucker County before moving to Chicago at the age of 28. He became
one of the most prominent railroad lawyers in the Midwest and, as
Director General of Railroads in 1918, Payne was instrumental in
the government's takeover of rail lines after the U.S. entered
World War I. He served one year as Wilson's Secretary of the
Interior before becoming chairman of the American Red Cross, a post
which he held until his death in 1935.

The other West Virginian in Wilson's cabinet was Martinsburg
native Newton Baker, who honed his political skills as Congressman
William L. Wilson's private secretary. As mayor of Cleveland, Ohio,
Baker had thrown his political weight behind Wilson at the 1912 and
1916 Democratic conventions. Wilson repaid the favor by naming
Baker Secretary of War in 1916. During World War I, Baker selected
Morgantown and South Charleston as sites for ordnance plants and
established a large munitions factory at Nitro. Baker also played a
role in determining whether states could ask the federal government
to intervene in volatile situations such as labor disputes. In
1920, he blocked West Virginia Governor John Cornwell's requests for federal troops
to put down labor unrest in the southern coalfields. Baker died in
Cleveland in 1937.

Payne and Baker are two of only nine West Virginians to serve in
presidential cabinets.

January 26, 1921: Sid Hatfield's
murder trial

When non-union miners in Mingo County went on strike for the
right to join the United Mine Workers in the spring of 1920, mine
guards from the Baldwin-Felts detective agency evicted miners from
their company-owned houses. After twelve Baldwin-Felts men arrived
in Matewan, chief of police Sid Hatfield encouraged townspeople to
arm themselves. The situation exploded into a gunfight in which
seven detectives and four townspeople were killed.

The trial of Sid Hatfield and twenty-two other defendants for
the murder of one of the detectives, Albert Felts, began on January
26, 1921. Some forty armed Baldwin-Felts agents lined the streets
of Williamson that morning to influence the pro-union jury. Despite
the testimony of numerous eyewitnesses, the jury acquitted Hatfield
and the other defendants in what was the lengthiest murder trial in
the state's history.

Realizing the impossibility of gaining a conviction in southern
West Virginia, Baldwin-Felts gunmen prevented Sid Hatfield from
standing trial in an unrelated case in McDowell County later that
year. Hatfield and a deputy, Ed Chambers, were murdered on the
steps of the county courthouse, sparking an armed march on southern
West Virginia by union miners, which ended with the Battle of Blair
Mountain. Again, despite numerous eyewitness accounts, accused
murderers went free. Baldwin-Felts agents C. E. Lively, "Buster"
Pence, and Bill Salter were acquitted of the Hatfield and Chambers
murders on the grounds of self defense, although neither victim was
armed.

In the killings at Matewan and the murder of Sid Hatfield and Ed
Chambers, there were numerous witnesses, yet there were no
convictions.

How could this happen?

Is our justice system effective?

What could the judge have done to protect Sid Hatfield and Ed
Chambers from gunmen outside the courthouse? Should the trial have
been moved to another location?

January 27, 1827: Chesapeake
& Ohio Canal Co. incorporated

Early 19th-century supporters of a project to attract trade from
the western United States asked Virginia, Maryland, and the
District of Columbia to improve navigation on the Potomac River by
building an adjacent canal. The Virginia General Assembly did its
part by passing an act January 27, 1827, incorporating the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company.

Gordon Gay, the Chief of Interpretation and Visitor Services for
the C&O Canal National Historical Park, says the canal was
originally intended to connect the Chesapeake Bay to the Ohio
River.

Gay: That's why it was called the Chesapeake & Ohio
Canal. It was to meet the Ohio River in Pittsburgh. In fact, in
1826--I believe it is--there was a survey done showing the route of
the canal all the way to Pittsburgh.

In 1833, the canal reached Harpers Ferry, one year ahead of its
main rival, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. But the railroad
quickly made up ground, reaching Cumberland, Maryland, in 1842,
eight years before the canal. By 1853, the railroad had reached the
Ohio River at Wheeling, leaving the canal behind at Cumberland.

Gay: Because of the problems that they had with the
money and the floods that had already occurred up to that point.
And getting the contractors to stay on the job was a very difficult
process--and contractors building locks and building aqueducts. Of
course, Paw Paw Tunnel was a major . . . almost a disaster, you
could call it. They thought it would take a couple years to build.
It took them ten years to build it. And that was the final obstacle
to opening the canal all the way to Cumberland.

In the beginning, the canal bolstered the economy of the
present- day eastern panhandle of West Virginia, particularly
Harpers Ferry. It was the first navigation route connecting western
Virginia with the profitable markets of Washington, D.C. However,
the canal's success was short lived. Transportation of goods on the
B&O Railroad proved quicker and more dependable, as floods
frequently rendered the canal unnavigable. The canal was badly
damaged during the Civil War, although it continued in operation
until the flood of 1924.

Rivers and canals were among the few available means of
transportation in the early 1800s.

Besides building canals, how were rivers improved to provide
better transportation?

Why was transportation so important to businesses in places
like Harpers Ferry?

January 29, 1873: Completion of
the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway

In 1852, the Baltimore & Ohio reached the Ohio River at
Wheeling, sparking an economic boom in northern West Virginia.
Twenty years later, a railroad did the same for southern West
Virginia.

On January 29, 1873, the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway was
completed from Huntington, West Virginia, to Richmond, Virginia,
when Collis P. Huntington's business partner, General Williams C.
Wickham, drove the last spike at Hawks Nest in Fayette County. The
railroad linked the Atlantic Coast with the midwestern United
States and facilitated the growth of the coal industry along West
Virginia's New River.

One coal industry pioneer, Joseph Beury, was the first to ship
carloads of coal by rail from his mines at Quinnimont. Beury was a
Union Army captain who had moved to Fayette County after the Civil
War. A granite monument dedicated to Beury stands at Quinnimont to
honor his achievements in nurturing the area's coal industry.

The railroad also allowed the coal trade to develop in other
areas along the New River. Coal mines opened at Stonecliff, Fire
Creek, Hawks Nest, Sewell, and Nuttallburg, which is named for John
Nuttall, another coal industry pioneer. Nuttall began mining
operations in the New River Valley in 1873.

Ten years after the spike was driven at Hawks Nest, the newly
built Norfolk & Western Railway began transporting coal from
the Pocahontas Coalfield in the southwestern part of the state. By
1900, the C&O and N&W railroads had established southern
West Virginia as the leading bituminous coal-producing region in
the nation.

For more information

Brown, Leona G. "Quinnimont: Going Back to a New River Town."
Goldenseal (Fall 1990): 23.

January 30, 1788: Establishment
of Fort Lee at Charleston

In the late 18th century, Kanawha Valley settlers worried about
Indian attacks, so George Clendenin appealed to the Virginia state
government for greater protection. Despite the existence of four
small forts in the valley, Clendenin feared settlers would abandon
the area if something else wasn't done.

On January 30, 1788, Virginia Governor Edmund Randolph
authorized Clendenin to organize a company of rangers to establish
an outpost. Clendenin directed the rangers to build a fort on lands
he had purchased only a month before at the confluence of the
Kanawha and Elk rivers. The fort was initially called Clendenin's
Fort but it was later renamed Fort Lee in honor of the
Revolutionary War hero Richard Henry Lee.

After Fort Lee was well established on the site of Charleston,
Clendenin was able to persuade the Virginia legislature to create
Kanawha County from the western parts of Greenbrier and Montgomery
counties.

A legend surrounding the eccentric "Mad Anne" Bailey grew out of
Fort Lee's frontier days. Bailey, whose husband had been killed at
the Battle of Pt. Pleasant, became a scout of sorts for the
frontier settlers. It's said that "Mad Anne" once saved Fort Lee by
obtaining a supply of gunpowder from the settlements of the
Greenbrier Valley more than 100 miles away. Since records make no
mention of a siege of Fort Lee, the story is generally
discounted.

With the threat of Indian attack practically eliminated in the
1790s, Fort Lee was no longer needed for defense. The stockade
surrounding the fort was removed in 1815. The blockhouse, which the
Clendenin family had used as a residence was eventually moved to
the corner of Virginia and Brooks streets, where it burned down in
1891.